Denver Nuggets win first NBA title, beat Miami Heat in five games
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, front left, shoots over Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, front right, during the second half of Game 5 of basketball’s NBA Finals, Monday, June 12, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
ovp test
Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment
Class to create biodiverse backyard
Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting
DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Nuggets have won their first NBA championship in team history, beating the Miami Heat in Game 5 on Monday.
The Nuggets edged out the Heat, 94-89, in Denver, overcoming dreadful shooting and a late flurry from Miami’s Jimmy Butler.
Center Nikola Jokic, had 28 points and 16 rebounds for the Nuggets, who missed 20 of their first 22 3-point attempts and seven of their first 13 free throws but figured out how to close out the series on their home floor.
Jokic, who finished as the runner-up to Joel Embiid in the MVP race, was named to the All-NBA Second Team. He nearly averaged a triple-double over the season with 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game over the 69 games he played.
Butler scored eight straight points to help the Heat take an 87-86 lead with 2:45 left after trailing by seven. He made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good.
Butler scored eight straight points to help the Heat take an 87-86 lead with 2:45 left after trailing by seven. He made two more free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets the lead for good.
Butler finished with 21 points for the Heat.
The Nuggets finished the regular season with 53 wins and 29 losses, the best record in the Western Conference and fourth-best overall for the NBA. They were one of 11 teams to have never won a championship.
They defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns in the second round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
Brown appeared in 80 of the Nuggets games this season, the most of any player, followed by guards Christian Braun and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who played 76 games each.
This is the first NBA championship for the Nuggets, who joined the league from the American Basketball Association in 1976 along with the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
